Determining Your BATNA
BATNAs are not always readily apparent. Fisher and Ury outline a simple process for determining your BATNA:
develop a list of actions you might conceivably take if no agreement is reached;
improve some of the more promising ideas and convert them into practical options; and
select, tentatively, the one option that seems best.[4]
BATNAs may be determined for any negotiation situation, whether it be a relatively simple task such as finding a job or a complex problem such as a heated environmental conflict or a protracted ethnic conflict.
Fisher and Ury offer a job search as a basic example of how to determine a BATNA. If you do not receive an attractive job offer by the end of the month from Company X, what will you do? Inventing options is the first step to determining your BATNA. Should you take a different job? Look in another city? Go back to school? If the offer you are waiting for is in New York, but you had also considered Denver, then try to turn that other interest into a job offer there, too. With a job offer on the table in Denver, you will be better equipped to assess the New York offer when it is made. Lastly, you must choose your best alternative option in case you do not reach an agreement with the New York company. Which of your realistic options would you really want to pursue if you do not get the job offer in New York?
More complex situations require the consideration of a broader range of factors and possibilities. For example, a community discovers that its water is being polluted by the discharges of a nearby factory. Community leaders first attempt to negotiate a cleanup plan with the company, but the business refuses to voluntarily agree on a plan of action that the community is satisfied with. In such a case, what are the community's options for trying to resolve this situation?
They could possibly sue the business based on stipulations of the Clean Water Act.
They could contact the Environmental Protection Agency and see what sort of authority that agency has over such a situation.
They could lobby the state legislature to develop and implement more stringent regulations on polluting factories.
The community could wage a public education campaign and inform citizens of the problem. Such education could lead voters to support more environmentally-minded candidates in the future who would support new laws to correct problems like this one. It might also put enough public pressure on the company that it would change its mind and clean up voluntarily.
In weighing these various alternatives to see which is "best," the community members must consider a variety of factors.
Which is most affordable and feasible?
Which will have the most impact in the shortest amount of time?
If they succeed in closing down the plant, how many people will lose their jobs?
These types of questions must be answered for each alternative before a BATNA can be determined in a complex environmental dispute such as this one.
BATNAs and the Other Side
At the same time you are determining your BATNA, you should also consider the alternatives available to the other side. Sometimes they may be overly optimistic about what their options are. The more you can learn about their options, the better prepared you will be for negotiation. You will be able to develop a more realistic view of what the outcomes may be and what offers are reasonable.